Two anglers fishing from the bank of the Sac River catch spawning crappie and walleye. They prove you don't need a boat to catch fish. / Ken White

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Ken

WHITE

There's no need for a boat here. Anglers line up from the bridge at Bennett Spring hoping to hook a trout, and some will. / Ken White

Ken White and daughter Laura show off the crappie they caught by fishing from the bank on Stockton lake. / Ken White

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Have you watched televised fishing shows lately? Most would have you believe you can only catch fish with a $25,000 fishing boat.

Don’t sell the cane pole at a garage sale just yet. Bank fishermen can and will experience success like boat anglers, but with a slightly different approach.

We are at or near some of the best bank fishing of the year. On many south Missouri streams, walleye, white bass and crappie are ready to make their runs upstream, and fishing from the shore is the best way to catch them in many places.

Not only are the streams good for fishing from the bank, hundreds of farm ponds in the area produce excellent fishing for bass, catfish and panfish.

Some of my best catches have come from the bank, including a 10-pound walleye, several 3-pound white bass, an 11-pound largemouth bass and several 2-pound crappie.

Jim Keyser, of Springfield, spends a lot more time fishing from the bank than he does in a boat.

“Fishing from the bank has many advantages, including the fact that your bank account won’t suffer when contemplating the purchase of a new boat,” he said.

Keyser offered several tips for the bank angler. Fish the bank habitat early in the morning and late in the afternoon for best results. There are times later in the season that many game fish are feeding on insects and are active at midday, so act accordingly.

Get permission to fish on private property, and look for natural habitat like overhanging branches, fallen trees, submerged timber and flooded brush.

Check out structures that provide good fish habitat, including docks and spillways. Rig equipment to match the species of fish you want.

Keyser started fishing from the shore at age 7 and still finds it is the best way to bring home fish.

“My first fish was a big bluegill from a creek near home — that got me started,” Keyser said. “Now, 63 years later, I still catch a lot of fish from the bank. Never did own a boat, and I guess I never will. I get a kick out of those TV fishing shows when every fish the host catches is ‘a nice one.’ ”

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Last year, Keyser fished with a friend below the dam at Truman Lake.

“It was like opening day at Bennett Spring,” he recalled. “There were fishermen standing shoulder to shoulder and nearly everyone was catching fish. One angler from nearby Warsaw had a mixed string of fish, from walleye to white bass.

“He told me that if I come back and don’t see a lot of cars in the parking lot, I might as well keep going, but if the lot was full, I had better get ready to catch fish. He said the spring fishing from the bank is as good as it gets.”

Even on the big impoundments, shoreline anglers catch their share of fish, especially in the spring.

“You need to scout the shoreline for clues to the location of shoreline fish,” said Joplin angler Tom Davis. “Everything from natural vegetation to man-made structures can attract fish, so look for them when fishing from the bank.

“I catch my share of crappie, white bass, catfish and bluegill on the big lakes, and I never use a boat. The secret is to know where and how to fish from the bank.”

Another good place to catch fish without using a boat is from a dock. Recently, I fished off a dock on a lake and pulled in some nice-sized crappie and the first bluegill of the season.

Bill Franklin, of Bolivar, was also fishing off the dock, and in two hours, he had 15 big crappie and a dozen or more bluegill in his bucket and had released others, including some small bass.

I remember when Harry Martin, 76, a Jefferson City angler, had a hard time fishing from a boat, so he had a dock built on a small lake where he catches crappie, bluegill, bass, carp and catfish.

“I wasn’t about to quit fishing, so I built a place I could fish anytime I wanted to,” Martin said. “It has worked out great. I catch as many fish as my son-in-law does in his $20,000 bass boat.”

From fishing for trout at one of the state trout parks to catching spawning crappie near the shore, bank anglers experience success.